US Inflation rising at a dramatic rate

The Biden administration is bracing for Tuesday’s key consumer inflation report to show that the prices Americans pay soared in March, as Russia’s war on Ukraine caused energy prices to jump.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the Labor Department’s previous report failed to include the majority of the jump in oil and gas costs caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday will issue its March update to the consumer price index, or CPI. The CPI is the department’s tool for measuring inflation in a basket of goods and services that the average American would buy ranging from eggs and milk to cellphones and unleaded gasoline.

Economists consider two versions of the CPI data: The headline number that includes all prices consumers face, and a so-called core CPI that excludes often volatile food and energy price fluctuations.

The White House says it anticipates a wider-than-normal disparity between the headline and core readings because of an abnormal increase in gas prices that occurred last month. The price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline hit a record high of $4.33 on March 11, according to the American Automobile Association.

Labor Department data has for several months shown that year-over-year price jumps have been hitting levels not seen since Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office. The February reading showed benchmark consumer inflation index rose 7.9% over the last 12 months, the highest level since January 1982.